Far Eastern Painting – Shan Shui – The Chinese Painting Style ‘Mountain Water’

Shan Shui – The concept
Shan Shui is a style of Chinese painting that uses brush and ink to create landscapes or natural settings. The literal translation of the word is ‘mountain water’. This form of painting first became popular in China in the 5th century, during the reign of the Song dynasty (420-79).

The details
o Components: as its name implies, mountains, rivers and waterfalls are the basic elements of each painting of this style. These paintings can include trees, valleys with lakes or rivers, boats and bridges, mountains partially obscured by clouds, and even cabins by a river.
o Tools and techniques: The material, techniques and evaluation of the artwork used in Shan Shui is the same as that of calligraphy.
o Features: In this style of painting, the painted objects and shapes do not need to resemble the real landscape. Shan Shui painters do not portray what they have seen. They paint their thoughts, as they perceive them.
o Colors: Unlike common paints, Shan Shui does not have shadow and light work, nor many colors for that matter.
o Elements: in this Far Eastern style of painting, the placement of various elements and the use of colors are based on Chinese elemental theory. Each direction is associated with a particular color (or colors) and elements, such as metal, wood, earth, water, and fire. Items that negatively interact with each other, such as water and fire, are not used together and therefore color mixing is done accordingly.

The components
The following three sets of complex and meticulous essential requirements for form, balance and composition characterize Shan Shui:
o Roads: roads should never be straight. The path may be a river or a path along a river, but it must meander like a stream does. This helps deepen the landscape by adding layers.
o The threshold: the path must lead to a threshold, which exists to symbolize the welcome and embrace of the spectators. The mountain, the shadow of the mountain on the ground, or the cut of the mountain in the sky, can be the thresholds.
o The Heart: This is the central point of the painting and all the elements must lead towards it. The heart signifies the meaning of the painting.

Correlations and symbolism
Like most other Chinese painting styles, Taoism also influenced Shan Shui. Whenever human figures are depicted in this style, they are usually quite small, indicating human triviality in nature. The items often have symbolic meanings here, with the bamboo representing loyalty, the plum blossoms representing purity, and the pines and cranes representing long life.

The artists, the artists
‘Early Spring’ by Guo Xi (1020-90 – Northern Song Dynasty), Chinese landscape painter Zhang Zeudan (1085-1145 – Song Dynasty), Gao Kegong (1248-1310 – Yuan Dynasty), Shen Zhou (1427 -1509 – Ming Dynasty) and Wang Hui (1632-1717 – Qing Dynasty).

The essence
Shan Shui paintings are used as an artistic representation of philosophy. They are more about incorporating tranquility and movement, yin and yang, and time and space in art. Shan Shui has immensely inspired poetry, movies and animations (since 1988) and construction zones.